Can you believe we have already reached the end of the first month of our Harry Potter Challenge? That means we’re ready to hear all about your experience reading or re-reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Hope you all had a lot of fun, I know I did and I can’t wait to read all about it.

If you haven’t signed up for the challenge yet you can get all the details and do so here.

But before giving you the details on how to share your thoughts/links, I wanted to end the month, by asking a couple of the Daemon’s Movies writers to share their first experience watching the Harry Potter movies. Here are their answers (and mine):

Andrea: The thing I remember the most about finally seeing Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone when it hit theatres was the sheer amount of excitement. I attended a midnight showing with some college friends, and remember people (young and old) dressed in costumes, excitedly recounting their favorite scenes from the books and hoping they would show up in the film. I remember when the lights went down when we were finally in the theatre and that everyone cheered and clapped when the Warner Brothers logo came on screen, and when each major character appeared.

The real magic of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was the way JK Rowling’s world was translated from the book to the screen for the first time. It was awe-inspiring and exciting to see places and characters that I had only seen in my imagination come to life – I felt like a little kid again. Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid was exactly what I had pictured, and I was transfixed by Rupert Grint as Ron – I’m pretty sure my first thought when he appeared on screen was that they couldn’t have casted that role any better. I remember after the movie, the people I was with were complaining about everything they had left out or things that they didn’t agree with – but I didn’t care about any of that. One of my favorite books had finally come to life in front of my eyes, and that made me enjoy the film so much.

___________________________________________________

Kelly: Since my sister Amy and I were addicted to the Harry Potter novels, we were both EXTREMELY excited for the premiere of The Sorcerer’s Stone film. To be able to see the places of our imagination come to life on the big screen was a little too much for us to handle. We’d been spending the last few years playing cut throat (and I mean CUT. THROAT) Harry Potter Trivia – “The Prefect Edition”; we needed new material to stimulate ourselves.

We saw the film on opening night, the theater was PACKED. People were in costume, and before entering the theater to take our seats, we were all sorted into houses by the movie theater staff. Amy was 12 at this point; and I was 18. Little did we know that that AMAZING film was going to be the start of a tradition that is now 10 years running.

On every release date, even though Amy is now 22 and I’m 28, we make sure we’re together in center seats for the next film – we’ve never missed a single one. Our tradition has taken on a couple other family and friends as well – it’s not just me and Amy any longer; it’s a party of at least 11 people. Good thing our movie theaters have reserved seating!

We bring Harry Potter themed candy, and per tradition, have to eat the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean with no other light than the one coming from the screen. It may seem harmless enough, but when you bite into a vomit jelly bean… well, I feel sorry for the ushers that have to clean the floor of unwanted beans when we vacate the theater.

Like being introduced to the book; I couldn’t be more thankful to the creative forces behind Harry Potter – they will never know what an impact one movie created.

____________________________________________________________

Sandie: If you can believe it, when the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie came out, I was pretty much the only one of my friends/acquaintances who had any interest in seeing the movie. So after a failed attempt at going to see it, I ended up seeing the movie alone, yes, it’s crazy I know, but to be honest, I didn’t care, I was going to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone whether someone wanted to come along with me or not, I mean it was Harry Potter. Coming Alive. In front of me!!!

Now on to the story of “why I wish someone had been with me when I went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and how I am such a wuss”: Since you have all seen the movie now, you will remember that very last scene when Harry Potter is facing Quirrell and Voldermort (or what is left of him). Well you know what? That scene is kind of scary, at least I thought it was the first time I saw it by myself in a dark theater. And I kept thinking “wow this movie is kind of scary, aren’t all these kids scared?” The truth is, they probably weren’t and that’s the story of “why I wish someone had been with me when I went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and how I am such a wuss.”

But be reassured, my experiences for subsequent Harry Potter movies was much, much better and no I never saw another one alone. And since then I have seen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone so many times, that my first not so great Harry Potter movie experience is nothing but a faint memory.

____________________________________________________________

For those of you who has signed up to participate through the comment section, please share your first experience watch the Harry Potter movies.

For those of you who have written either a review or opinion piece on your blogs, Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon, YouTube, or GetGlue you can leave a link in the comment section. Feel free to also share your first experience watching the Harry Potter movies as well. (Please note: Your comment might be held for moderation because it includes a link, but we will approve all the relevant links. If your comment hasn’t been approved within 1-2 days, please resubmit it so that we count your participation into the challenge).

Remember, your comment and/or link will count as one proof of participation, which will give you one entry into our final giveaway.

Sandrine has been a film lover for as long as she can remember. From actions films to rom com to indies, Sandrine pretty much enjoys every type of films, apart from horror movies. She’s always on the lookout for great films suggestions and is open to try anything… that is except for horror films ;)

You may also like...

LOL! Sandie, you’re right – when Voldemort is talking to Harry it is pretty scary. I remember thinking the same thing – that kids were going to be freaked out! That is too funny. Hopefully you’ve recruited a few friends to go with you from now on!

Andrea – I could not agree more with what you said about casting. The cast is BRILLIANT. However, they needed to (and still do) give Daniel green eyes. It’s sort of a reoccuring theme through the books.

Thank you for sharing, but I think this link is for the Harry Potter Book challenge, not the movie challenge. So make sure you add it on Daemon’s Books here so that your participation is counted there 🙂

I went about this backward, seeing all the movies before reading the books just these last two months. Saw the movies backwards also. When I finally saw movie # 1 I was charmed by it. Same way book 1. I was happy to see Harry get to a better life, have friends like the Weasleys. Seeing such actors as Richard Harris and Maggie Smith, gave such a air to the Movie. Admittedly Movie one I did find harsh. For a child’s book the reality is very harsh.